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One Shot: Shadows on the Snow
Characters * The Stranger: A strange being, who appears in various forms, usually with gold and jade eyes. * Commander Stahl: A military leader sent out to investigate. the strange happenings in the forest. Belligerent and stubborn. * Professor Surac: A scientist attached to the deployment * Ensign Jack: A cocky rookie looking to prove himself * Ensign Pearl: Another rookie that Jack has been paired up with. Is generally unpleasant. * Pending Appears * The Shadows * The Shadow Dragon Part 1 "Oh, stop!" she said playfully. The woman and her lover were walking through the woods, giggling, cuddling and doing what couples do. They were thick in winter wear, given the time of the year and the landscape of barren trees upon a white expanse. They were a bit far from the town, not so far as no one could hear them scream, but they were far enough to be alone, or so they thought. "Come on, I just..." Her boyfriend paused and looked passed her, deeper into the woods, looking confused, then concerned, then disturbed. It did not take long for her to turn around to the direction he was facing. Her eyes were locking on a walking shadow, two of them side by side. There were not features to see, just an outline in the rough shape of a person, were no light was reflected. The woman clutched her boyfriend's jacket tightly, as the two specter began to scream with an unholy high pitch screech. "Alright, explain it to me doc..." said the General. He was an older man in power armor, a thick chrome suit of motors, actuators, and armor plating. He was in a tent with other individuals in power armor. "Well..." said the scientist, in a much thinner suit of power armor, with a helmet with a transparent face showing his old wrinkly face with glasses. "From what I've gathered of the reports, this area is victim to recent sightings of 'shadow men', strange otherworldly-" "I got that in mission briefing, who is 'she' and why is she here?!" He pointed to the teenage girl with tan skin, blonde hair, platinum fingernails, and green and yellow eyes. She wore a simple red jacket, over a school girl themed outfit, with thigh high boots of gold and pink. She simply waved at them, with headphones over her ears. "Ugh...I thought she was with you..." "Please, I am a military, I would never be caught with such a floozie..." "On the clock..." she added, to which the general glared at her and she just smirked back. "Get rid of her, I don't even know why she's here...?!" "Oh that simple, you could've just asked..." she said. "Oh..." the general turned to her with a dismissive tone. "And why are you here...?" "I'm here to warn you lot to keep away from the shadow until it departs..." "Shadow...?" "The Event Horizon responsible for this little phenomenon." she stood up "The more you lot try and force your way to a solution, the more of a problem you're going to make this..." "And how would you know so much about this...?" asked the professor with vast amounts of skepticism in his voice. "Oh good doctor..." "I'm a professor..." "And I really don't care. I know these things for I am familiar with them, the same way you're familiar with Suzie's phone number." The old man plushed and pulled out a blaster. "Who are you...?" "Professor...?" asked the Commander "What are you doing...?" "He's reacting very badly to a situation that didn't need to be so terrible..." said the stranger "Don't judge him too badly, I'm sure you'll make the same mistake." "And why is that...?" the commander asked as he stepped between her and blaster. "Because the shadow is a mirror, all it does is reflect back what you put into it." "How do you know about this...'shadow'...?" "Simple...I am most familiar with shadows hanging over people's lives, see...?" She pointed to the tent wall, and everyone, for some reason turned that direction. All they saw was the commander's shadow, which was when the general realized to look back, the girl was gone. "Why are we out here...?" asked jack. The two soldiers marched through the woods in power armor, sloped, helmets over their heads, with cylinders on the sides, part of the breathing system. "Who knows..." asked Pearl. "This whole talk about 'shadows' sounds like nonsense the colonists made up..." "What for...?" "To put themselves on the map, and get some tourism here. 'Deva 4, home of the shadow folks', I can see it now..." "A little skepticism is good for the soul..." The two turned around and trained their blasters on a stranger. He was a tall slim man, with silver hair, and a slight tan. He wore mostly all black, a black pants, shoes, and jacket, with a long red scarf around his neck. His eyes were yellow and green, but Pearl noticed the red, bright crimson shimmer in the center of them. "But as the old ones said, all things in moderation." "Who are you...This area is of limits...!" "A quaint notion, but I suggestion you put your mind to this concept. Give them fear, and fear is what they shall give you. Give them violence, and violence is what they will return. They are as mirrors..." "Who are...?" asked Jack. The stranger pointed to the side, where the two soldiers spied two shadows, humanoid masses of darkness, side-by-side and 'staring' back at them. The two aimed their blasters at them and they began to 'growl'. "I said, they are mirrors..." said the stranger. The shadows started growling more and more. "The hell does that mean?!" "It means, numb nuts..." the stranger replied with annoyance "You don't attack them and they won't attack you." "You expect me to believe that?!" shouted Pearl. One of the shadows growled louder. "Perhaps, you stop being so afraid..." "WE'RE NOT AFRAID?!?" Shouted Jack, two which the shadow facing him roared. That sound was enough to jumping him and made him pull the trigger firing bolt after bolt into the enemy. Pearl followed his lead. Eventually the two stopped as the beasts had turned silent and for all their attacks, were ultimately unharmed. With quick, unnatural movements they crouched down, took aggressive poses and charged screaming like banshees, to which the two soldiers screamed, that was until they ran into a red shield of energy. It was unseen until struck, as sent the shadows back with bolts of red electricity. "Honestly, I'm omniscience and even I don't know why I bother sometimes?" said the stranger. To his seeming surprise, the two soldiers turned around, grabbed him by the arms and ran off towards camp, while he looked on annoyed. Part 2 The other soldiers looked with confusion as the two ran back into camp carrying the stranger, who they promptly threw on the ground when they stopped running and caught their breath. "Really..." said the stranger "A billion years, has such disrespect ever been shown to me...?" he sat up. "Oh stow it, what were those things, tell me now...!" shouted Pearl. The stranger got up and dusted himself off as the Commander and Professor came out to the gathering crowd. "You didn't say the magic word..." She pointed her blaster at him. "Child, ignoring the fact that you spent all your ammunition on those things, those don't do me anything, but give me an excuse to rip someone a new one." "Save the bravado! You don't scare us...!" "Of course not, you don't know who I am, but you're scared of your own shadows it seems..." "What does that mean...?" He was silent. "Answer her..." said the commander. The stranger turned around, with an expression of pompous amusement, at the commander giving him orders. Jack stepped forward and forcibly lowered Pearl's gun. "Please..." he said "Just tell us what is going on." The stranger took a deep breath. "There is a shadow zone out there..." he said "A what...?" "Shush. A Shadow Zone, an intersection of two different...you call them dimensions." "Nonsense..." said the Professor "String theory..." He was silence when he found himself flying into the stranger's grasp, held up by the throat, to the surprise of everyone. "Shut it." He dropped the professor "Due to processes of physics and metaphysics, I am not in the mood to give a lecture upon, every time someone goes into the zone, into the field, the even horizon, they make a shadow. It is a quasi existence, a shadow reflected through and back through dimension, to be three dimenionsal." "It attacked us!' shouted Pearl. "The term 'shadow' isn't because of their appearance. I told you, I told the old badgers, the shadows are a mirror. You were scared, so it learned to be scared, it reflected fear, in the basic, primal, animalistic way it could. You were violent, you attacked it, so they attacked you." "That makes no sense..." said professor getting up. "To you...you make it sound like the universe owes you an explanation." "Okay, and what causes this 'shadow zone'?" "It could be several things really, anything that generates a cross-phase field, one that's running wild...Fortunately in this case it's just a mega fauna sleeping and not an alien attack. Well, 'giga' fauna would be the better description." "You can't be serious..." said the professor. "Why not, it wouldn't be the first time you humans have had to deal with 'giant monsters'.?" "Human...?" said the Commander raising his blaster. The others raised theirs. "Word of warning, those really aren't going to do me anything..." "Scan him!" The professor took out a device his armor and moved it up and down as he looked at the computer screen on his gauntlet. "I...I can't anything significant..." said the Professor "Basic humanoid biology..." "Child I am anything but 'basic'...well technically I am but...yeah I don't know how to explain that without confusing you lot, nor is there time..." "Right...Sir, he has organs not indicative of a human." "An alien...!" said the commander with a sneer. He marched over to the stranger and grabbed him by the collar. "Where is the machine generating this field...?!" The stranger raised an eyebrow "That leap of logic you just made...impresses even me, and I am not easily impressed." "Do not insult me alien...!" "Well, I can see how this is going to go." "What does that mean...?" asked Pearl. "You're all going to run head long into danger, and die." "Of course...!" shouted the professor "The field generator, is in the field, the center of it! He needs for his weapon to expand!" "Great you're getting in with this nonsense...." "Silence alien!" shouted the commander and he threw a punch. To the surprise of everyone the stranger caught it, and his expression turned from jovial disinterest, to deadly serious. With little impunity he forced the hand down, the mechanical limb shaking, quivering as the commander tried and failed to resist. "Try that again and I'll show discipline harsh enough to make your daddy look like a saint, 'boy'." The way he said 'boy' echoed in the commander, calling up things of his childhood he would have loved to leave buried. He dropped the stranger, who in turn released his hand as the old man walked back. "Put him in cuffs...!" the stranger's eyes flashed red, something no one seemed to have noticed "and have Ensigns Jack and Pearl watch him, everyone else is moving out!" Part 3 The soldiers marched, up the hill and into the woods, stomping with their power armor, and their blasters charged. They marched passed the precipice of the woods, heading towards the 'center', and as expected shadows began to appear, marching in the same formation as them. "Sir..." said one of the soldiers over the come line "The shadows have shown up." The commander stood atop the watch tower at the base looking out at his soldiers. "What are they doing...?" "Nothing...just...growling..." the soldier replied "They are in a line..." "They've mobilized into a unit to counter us!" "Okay seriously..." said the stranger, sitting on a cartoon with his hands bound in large cuffs "The shadows are a 'mirror' how hard is that to figure out?!?" He buried his face in his palms. "Why do you monkey's keep disappointing me...?!" "What are you talking about...?" asked Jack, standing in front of him next to Pearl. "All troops attack..." shouted the commander. There came from the distance the sound of blaster fire and screeching, shouting and screaming. "Well they're doomed." said the stranger. "Silence alien..." said Pearl. "Oh, don't tell me you're buying into this nonsense..." "Aliens are always causing trouble..." "Massive oversimplification and falsehood aside, you lot are always shooting at them." "How do we stop this...?" asked Jack. The stranger and Pearl looked at him. "Don't give me that look, you came here to stop this didn't you, otherwise, why save us in the forest....?" "That was just some alien ploy...!" shouted Pearl. "You really believe that...?" "Yes..." "Alien..." "Oh has ever a word failed to grasp me before...?" the stranger said with bemused sarcasm. "Why don't you have a shadow...?" "What...?" asked Pearl. She looked down, clearly the alien had a shadow. "In the forest, it was the three of us, but only two shadows, and from what I'm hearing, the shadows appeared in the same formation as our men." The stranger smirked. "As you said, these things are a 'mirror'." "What are you saying...?" asked Pearl "He's saying..." said the Stranger "That the shadows are copying what you people do, you are afraid, they are are afraid, so they growl. You are terrified, they scream their heads of in terror. You attack them, they attack you. They are 'your' shadows..." "So why don't you have one...?" asked Jack. By now those left in the camp had turned and looked their direction. "Because I'm not a person..." "Of course not, you're an alien..." said Pearl, to which an unseen force smacked her in the back of her head. "I am a field of energy, currently manifesting this 'avatar' as I search for one worthy of wielding me to close this breach between dimensions." "You can't be serious..." said Pearl. "Shoot me..." "What...?" "Shoot me, I am immune to blasters." "This is a 'Particle Lance'." "A rose by another name..." "What is..." "Just shout me!" Jack shot him, and his blaster bolt not only did not touch the stranger, his body warped out of its way, like an image on water when a rock falls into the pond. "What...?" said the professor." He came over with his tools. "Do that again...!" Pearl fired, and a whole appeared int he middle of the stranger's body the epicenter of his body's expansion as the bolt moved through the whole and out the other side. "I'm getting nothing..." "Okay..." said Jack "If you need someone to use you, why are you...you have a body...!" "I don't really care for interacting, interfering with mortal affairs. I am here for someone worthy, at least for the moment, to use my power." The commander walked over. "I don't know why you're here, we already established it isn't you..." The general paused, clearly insulted. "What nonsense, I am the commanding officer here, if anyone is worthy..." "Dictate to me how I should I use my power..." the stranger said as the outer part of the commander's armor began to glow red hot "And I'll cook you alive." The heat dissipated. "Ugh, why are we even believing this...?" asked the professor "Why would we even need your 'help'?" The stranger raised a finger, a sphere of red light was upon it and he flicked it away. At the front of the camp it splattered on an unseen shield, a dome which its remains arced across as bolts of red electricity showing the diameter of the field, and how it had grown. "I was a bit inaccurate last time. Your blasts of condensed high temperature ionic particles do, do something. The shadows absorb that energy and add it to the field, making it grow." "Why didn't you tell us this before...?" asked Jack as he and the other looking at the field, while it was still visible. "Why, why should I when if you lot had listened you would've know not to bother firing on the damn things..." "...I'll do it..." said Pearl. "You're not worthy either..." "Why not...?!" The stranger stood up, the shackled falling of him like he was a ghost. "None of you listened. You confuse being naive to having an open mind, a mind open to reasoning, to thinking to common sense beyond your drone like orders. Well...most of you didn't listen..." He turned to Jack. "Me...?" said Jack. "You listened, you thought, and if anyone can control my power, the light of reason must shine." "But I'm a scientist...!" said the professor. "And you're dogmatic and pompous. In all fairness, you're almost as dogmatic as the others, but there is a spark in there..." "I..." said Jack. "It's that or everyone dies as that field continues to grow." Jack took a deep breath. "Okay...!" Good. The stranger was gone, and Jack's suit of power fell down empty. "What...?!" said the commander. Part 4 "Where am I...?" Jack asked. He found himself in a void of red currents of energy seemingly orbiting him. Within said streams were rivers of golden particles, and a red and gilded glow that seemed to focus on him. Out of the currents rose a red sphere, which shined to form a sort of nervous system of energy, that was wrapped around by fire, forming a giant flaming humanoid with luminous eyes, and a red glow in its chest. "So this is your true form...you're right alien doesn't cover it. Why am I here...?" The giant turned to the side, and red energy flowed into a point, forming a standing pool of red, shining water. Instead of a reflection it showed a scene, the midst of the forest, where the soldiers were being slaughtered by the shadows, but Jack noticed something, every time a soldier died, a shadow disappeared, mainly because they fell to that same shadow. It only confirmed for him what he was hearing. "We have to go...!" Jack shouted. He suddenly realized that he was in the black, skin tight suit worn by power armor pilots. "We have to go now. People, my friends are dying...!" The giant was silent. "Well?!" "We are not here to save them..." said the giant "We are here to fix the problem." "But, those men and women!" "They had their chance, they had their warning, and their commander spat in the face of it, for his pride and pettiness. If you wish to save anyone, you must deal with the source of it all." "The shadow zone." The giant nodded. "Fine, so be it." The giant's body flew apart leaving behind the red orb as the streams of flame entered his body, while rings of blue light spun around him as he glowed, a bright orange light the enshrouded him. He became a giant of his own, with a red body with bright orange, golden lines about his skin like currents of active magma. His face was like a silver mask, a chrome, almost humanoid structure, with a seemingly static and dome, luminous yellow eyes. Circles on the side of his head were clearly his ears, and he had a sort of crown, crest like structure, with a green gem in the center. "Your body is soft, be clad in the light." Blue circles appeared next to the now giant Jack, and out of them came a repetition of a shape at different sizes, an arrow head shaped arch, of silver. It was the combinations of this shape that made his armor, both as large single instances and layers of the shape, serving as armor. Finally a spinning circle came down on his head and formed a helmet, a with a face plate cover his mouth, and an orange visor. Finally the red orb flew into the shape in the middle of his chest. "Why do I need armor..." "A fair question..." and he said nothing after that. The soldiers all turned away, the crimson light was too bright for them, even with shade functions in their helmets. Out of the light Jack landed kicking up clouds of dust with his weight. "Woah." said Jack, now seeing things his humans eyes never could, it was almost too much. "What is this...?" "That is the field, now if you would be so kind, we have work to do...?" "I don't know why you needed me for this..." "I didn't, but we like to make as little of a splash as possible. Now focus...!" "Right...!" Jack crossed his arms, red lightning sparked between his bracers as he pulled them apart and to the side of his body. Red particles and light began to swirl about his body body seemingly faded. The shadows paused, as suddenly a red glow erupted out of their bodies and they disappeared. "What is going on...?" asked the Commander The world was beneath a pink sky, with fields of prismatic flowers beside rivers and what seemed to be molten gold. Jack looked confused. "What is this place...?" "Long story short..." said the stranger "A pocket dimension." "Why did we make this....?" "We have changed the destination of the Shadow Zone." "I don't understand." "The Shadow Zone is a place where your dimension was being link with another. It was an energy field, but it was also a tunnel." "And that's where the shadows came from..." "No, the shadows were reflections, the tunnel is an energy field, your lives, your emotions, your actions were reflected upon it, as thus were the shadows born." "Who would do this...?" "In truth it was both a defense mechanism and a feeding mechanism..." "Feeding...?" as if in response, it started. Waves of energy of the same stuff as the shadows appeared as if blown. These waves of energy rolled across the ground to a single point, becoming a singular mass, which rose up and morphed into its true form. The beast had obsidian black scales, and slim slender build with long limbs, a long neck and serpentine tail. It had large wings, and a crystal like beak with fangs, and glowing red eyes. It got up looked around and roared. "Virotis: The Shadow Dragon." said the Stranger. "What...?!?" "Rather than feeding on flesh and blood, the beast feeds on the negative emotions and energies unleashed on its shadows. It hides itself in another dimension feeding on the blacklash of psychic energy its victims generate." "What...?" "Duck..." "Wha-" The beast's tail smacked him in the head, causing him to flip over and land on his back. "Ow...!" "I would advise you prepare yourself." "It's a bit late, ah!" Jack rolled out of the way as the tail came slamming down. "What, how do I fight this thing...?!" "How about you calm down, and listen to your instincts, because that's where my instructions will be coming from..." "What can't you just tell-" The beast's tail slammed into his chest knocking him down. "Never mind..." Jack laid there for a moment, gathering his wits and calming. Then as the tail down upon him he rolled backwards, out of the way and onto his feet. The tail reeled back and the beast swung again, extending it outward like a spear, a spear Jack swatted out of the way, before he moved as a red flash and delivered an uppercut to the beast's gut, sending it flying back. It coughed and screamed and vomited up a stream of flames which Jack blocked by raising his hand and erecting a shield of energy. Then the beast sent out its tail again, intending to skewer shield and owner. Jack's body flashed and he moved backwards. Knowing the tail was coming again he performed a technique. He crossed his bracers and brought his arms up to his head, spreading them open as he gathered particles into his visor, which shot a beam of energy atomizing the tail. The creature recoiled in pain, stumbling and twirling around as it screamed in pain, before it turned around to see Jack in front of it. He grabbed its lower jaw and delivered several punches to the throat, before it in a headlock, tugging, crushing before grabbing its arm and throwing it away. The beast spread its wings and took of moving in an arc to make an attack run. Jack, followed in the instinctual instructions given to him. He crossed his arms, putting his bracers together, red bolts arced between them. He pulled them apart, a field of red particles and red bolts where between them. He squished the field into a bracer at his side, then he has said arm, upright, and the other arm behind it vertically, but the upright bracer had a red glow. It was that instant when they touched, that he fired his beam, now mixed together with the energy field he had just created at the beast, tearing through its flaming and hitting it directly, destroying it in bursts of red flames. "That was....incredible..." "Yes, now it's time for you to get..." "What...?" The world around them began to break down, dissolving into red light and golden particles raining down around them, until from Jack's perspective, it morphed back into the real world. Jack's didn't know about the commander's forces armed and awaiting the giant, either giant, and ready to attack. The stranger did however, and immediately the giant's form broke apart into red and yellow ribbons of energy and blue particles, leaving only the spear which floated down towards them. Part 5 There were no words, a small ball of light came out of the orb and morphed back into Jack, who collapsed onto his knees panting. "Rejoice, you were an excellent focus..." Pearl and the professor immediately rushed towards him as Jack looked up at the sphere with a smirk. They both came for different reasons, Pearl came for concern for her friend, the professor came for samples, of blood, and scan results. "Alright men, fire at-" shouted the commander. He was cut off by a yellow bolt of electricity from the sphere, that carefully, yet brutally tore of his power armor, leaving him clad only in his undersuit, in the stark naked cold. "Do note..." said the sphere, his voice, the stranger's voice echoed with restrained hostility and violence "That this entire farce was due to me not wanting to blow up half the continent along with that monster. I advise you not test my patience further." "Okay..." the commander said sheepishly. "So what now...?" asked Jack. "Now I leave..." said the sphere. "I'm not going to grow a third arm or anything...?" "That's not how it works." He smirked. "Who are you...?" asked Pearl. "Child I have so many names and I care so little for most of them. Regardless I have overstayed my welcome." "So you leave now...?" "Yes..." The sphere seemingly collapsed in on itself, disappearing into thin air. "Well...he was rude..." "He reminds me of my gramps..." said Jack "Thinks everyone else is an idiot, is irritable and frankly tired of everyone." "You really think an alien being can be easily described in human terms?" said the professor. Jack and Pearl looked at him. "Yeah." they said together.Category:One Shots Category:SolZen321 Category:Fan Episodes